USA > Indiana > Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900; or, A view of our region through the nineteenth century > Part 3
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It is not a part of the design of this historic sketch to give the present condition of the Pottawatomies in their Western homes, but this record may well be made : that their late head chief, Shoughnessee, died at his home in Jackson County, Kansas, of quick con- sumption, April 7, 1900, and was buried with full In- dian rites in his own door-yard. He was considered, as a leader, quite conservative. His successor is called a more progressive man.
It is on record somewhere that an old Indian once said, "Give me back my forests and my bow, and my children shall no more die of a cough."
1572574
CHAPTER III.
EARLY SETTLERS-1830-1840.
According to a report concerning the Public Do- main of Indiana and its Survey, made in 1892 by J. C. Henderson, then Auditor of State, it appears that the eastern portion of a strip of land, ten miles in breadth, from north to south, across Indiana, was purchased from the Pottawatomies at Chicago, at a treaty made there August 29, 1821 ; and that the west- ern portion of the strip, the southern boundary line of which just touched Lake Michigan in what is now Lake County, was purchased when a treaty was made October 16, 1826, at Mississinewa. The line marking the south boundary of this purchase is known in some early descriptions of land as the "ten mile line." The north boundary line of Indiana is exactly ten miles north of an east and west line that barely cuts the most southern limit of Lake Michigan.
It is a question with some what is the real north boundary of Lake and Porter counties. The State boundary is the following, according to the Constitu- tion, Article XIV., Section I. "On the east by the meridian line which forms the western boundary of the State of Ohio; on the south by the Ohio River, from the mouth of the Great Miami River to the mouth of the Wabash River; on the west, by a line drawn along the middle of the Wabash River, from its mouth to a point where a due north line, drawn from the town of Vin-
36
NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
cennes would last touch the northwestern shore of said Wabash River, and thence by a due north line, until the same shall intersect an east and west line drawn through a point ten miles north of the southern extreme of Lake Michigan ; on the north, by said east and west line until the same shall intersect the first- mentioned meridian line which forms the western boundary of the State of Ohio."
Another treaty was made with the Indians October 27, 1832, on the Tippecanoe River, made between Jonathan Jennings, J. W. Davis, and Marks Crume, Commissioners for the United States, "and the Chiefs and Warriors of the Pottawatomies on the part of said Pottawatomies," in accordance with which treaty the United States bought all the remaining land of these Indians in Indiana, also lands in Michigan Territory and in Illinois. This treaty was signed by the United States Commissioners and by fifty-one Indians. To each Indian name on the treaty there is attached the expression "his mark," for these children of the forests and the prairies, chiefs, warriors, head men of their tribe, were as ignorant of writing as were once the noblemen of England in those old days when the phrase originated, "benefit of clergy." By the terms of this treaty the Indians were to receive, as soon as possible after the treaty was signed, $32,000 in mer- chandise of some kind, $15,000 a year for twelve years, and some other amounts. The Commissioners say that at the request of the Indians, after the treaty was signed, $2,700 was applied to purchase horses for them, which the Commissioners say were immediately purchased and delivered. What price was paid for horses at that time does not appear in the record, but perhaps this sum was sufficient to buy a horse, at least
37
EARLY SETTLERS.
a pony, for every man that signed the treaty. There then remained, due to the Indians, $29,300, the Com- missioners say, to be paid in merchandise, but how that was expended they do not mention. This treaty having been sanctioned by the Senate was confirmed by President Jackson, January 21, 1833 .*
According to the usage of our Government the In- dian title to this region was now extinguished, the sec- ond third of the century was soon to begin, and the land was ready for the coming of the pioneer settlers.
The American Fur Company, John Jacob Astor, President, kept an open communication between De- troit and Chicago. Steadily westward and also north- ward, the pioneers were pushing along their advanced guards, some settlers as early as 1821 having reached the locality where is now Indianapolis. The Wabaslı Valley was settled. Fruit trees were p'anted. Peaches and then apples soon grew in that rich valley; and then into North-Western Indiana the pioneers came.
In 1800 there were found to be in Indiana Territory, as its white population, 5,640, or (American Cyclo- pedia) 4,651, or (Colton) 4,875 ; about five thousand. In 1810 there were 24,520. In 1820, 147,178. In 1830, 341,582. But of this number in 1830, 3,562 were free blacks. Into the West as well as into the South the blacks have gone along with the early white settlers. (Some one once observed that the first white man who settled at Chicago was a negro.) In 1820 only fifty- one Indiana counties had been organized, and Wa- bash County had an area then of 8,000 square miles with 147 inhabitants. Delaware County had an area
*A copy of this treaty, with the signatures, as sent out by General Jackson, I had the opportunity of examining in the office of Hon. T. J. Wood, of Crown Point. T. H. B.
38
NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
of 5,400 square miles. Darby's Universal Gazetteer of 1826, from which these areas are taken, says: "In a review, however, of the settled parts of Indiana, the counties of Wabash and Delaware with the adjacent Indian country ought to be excluded," the entire area oi the three divisions being 20,022 square miles. "The actually inhabited section of Indiana," the Gazetteer says, "will be restricted to 13,972, say 14,000 square miles." This was in 1826. Of what was then called the "Indian country," area 6,622 square miles, more than one-half was in Northern Indiana.
The first white settlers, who came to bring civiliza- tion and Christianity, commerce and manufactures, art, science, and literature, into this corner of the State, began to come in 1830 and 1831, a very few as early as 1829, before the land, to any extent, was pur- chased from the Indians ; and for some ten years, until the last land north of the Kankakee was put upon the market, in 1839, pioneer settlers continuing to come in, the proper Indian period and the period of white occupancy were blended together. It is evident that until 1833, except on the ten mile purchase, the first white settlers were intruders upon Indian hunting grounds and gardens and cornfields; and for some years after 1833 the Pottawatomies still lingered among their long-cherished and delightful camping places. They were in no haste to leave; and although the large body of them, perhaps five thousand, left the State in 1836, some hundreds still remained among us, many even until 1840. We have therefore a period of ten years, from 1830 to 1840, of Indian and white life mingled. While in those years, among the pioneer families there were some privations, some hardships, yet those ten years of frontier life were years of a
39
EARLY SETTLERS.
rich, delightful experience, enjoyed very fully by a few hundred families where savage life was ending and civilizations beginning, and which by those thus en- joying cannot be forgotten. In this age of steam and electricity in which we live such a frontier life cannot be again.
It may be well to look over the records and see who were some of the first settlers, the true pioneers of North-Western Indiana. To give all their names, were it possible, would be decidedly impracticable, for on the Claim Register of Lake County, including the western part of Porter County, are nearly five hundred signatures. It is evident, therefore, that between 1829 and 1839 many hundreds of families came into the three counties lying north of the Kankakee; and many certainly, in those years, settled in Pulaski and White and Jasper. Of the comparatively few names that will here be given probably some are not cor- rectly written.
There has been found as the name of the first set- tler in what became White County, coming in the spring of 1829, Jacob Thompson, who died near · Reynolds in 1875; and, as the second settler, Ben- jamin Reynolds is named, who came from Ohio; and then George A. Spencer, also in 1829. The next pio- neers, perhaps not in that year, were Jerry Bisher, Robert Rothrock, George R. Bartley, Peter Price; and then many others from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and from Kentucky; also some Norwegians, among them Peter B. Smith and H. E. Hiorth, who settled and named the village called Norway on the Tippecanoe River.
In what became Pulaski County there were very few, if any, whites till 1830, and most of the families now there came in after 1850.
40
NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
For that County the following names of early citi- zens have been recorded: "J'ames Justice, Eli and Peter Demoss, and Thomas McMany, in the north- east; T. J. Galbrith, Henry White, Robert Scott, Moses L. Washburn, and William Fisher in the south; John Rees, Michael Stump, Silas Phillips, Lewis McCoy, A. E. Moore, and John M. Cowan, in the western part ; and John Davenport, Andrew Keys, John Peirson, George P. Perry, H. W. Hornbeck, Tilman Hackett, and Benjamin Ballinger, in the more central sections."*
The settlers of Pulaski came from Ohio, from older counties in Indiana, some from the South, some from Pennsylvania, a few from New England and New York, some from Great Britain, and, as later settlers, many Germans.
In regard to settling the prairie the same practice prevailed here as in Lake County, that "as a general thing," some exceptions may have been, "the home- steads were located in or near the timbered lands, the large prairies being left unsettled until a consider- able advance had been made in the way of improve- ments."
The first settlers in the central parts of what became Jasper County are said to have been George Culp and Thomas Randle from Virginia. They came and ex- amined some localities in 1834. The United States survey had just been made and a surveyor directed them to the "Forks" of the Iroquois. It is stated that they found no settlement west of the present Pulaski County line, but that traveling on the "Allen Trail" they came to William Donahoe's, who had just settled near the present Francesville.
*Historical Atlas of Indiana.
41
EARLY SETTLERS.
They went on to the rapids of the Iroquois and to the mouth of the Pinkamink. They seem to have been pleased with the locality, for in May, 1835, they settled at what became known as "the Forks." In the sum- mer of 1836 there followed them as pioneer men with their families John G. Parkison and Henry Barkley, also with them came the widow of Simon Kenton, a noted Kentucky pioneer. Her daughter, then John G. Parkison's wife, was said to have been the first white child born at the present city of Cincinnati. This may, it may not be true. Mrs. Kenton died in Jasper County about 1848. Her age is not recorded. Other families followed these: "Reeds, Prices, Casads, Burgets, Guthridges, Reeves, and Shanna- hans"* Soon another settlement was made on the Iroquois and a third where is now Rensselaer.
Those making this third settlement were John Nowels, with a young son, David, and a young daugh- ter, and a son-in-law, Joseph D. Yeoman and family. They came with an ox team, as did many other fami- lies, arriving in the fall of 1836, according to the statements in the "Historical Atlas." A date two years earlier will be found in the history of the town of Rensselaer. William Mallatt soon became a neighbor to Joseph D. Yeoman, but on his claim was afterward laid an "Indian float."
One of his daughters, Margaret Mallatt, is called the first white child born in Jasper County, and Mary Mallatt is said to have been the first young bride.
The names of other pioneers in this county will be found in other connections.
In that part of Jasper, which in 1860 became New-
*Historical Atlas of Indiana.
42
NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
ton County, hunters and trappers for some time were roaming among the Indians. At length a few "squat- ters" came, and then some permanent settlers. The first names found are Josiah Dunn and John Elliott as settlers in 1832. About the same time settlements were made by James W. Lacy, W. Spitler, Zacharias Spitler, James Cuppy, Jacob Prout, John Mayers, Bruce Dunn, and Matthias Redding. About 1837 came Jacob, Samuel, and Frederick Kenyon, Charles Anderson, Amos Clark, and, in 1838, James Murphy.
Still later settlers were James Elijah, John Darret, David Kustler, Daniel Deardorf, Benjamin Rood- nick, and Silas Johnson. Says the Historical Atlas : "These settlers found innumerable deer and turkeys in the woods and prairies, and wild bees were so plentiful that an abundant supply of honey was at the com- mand of any one who cared to exert himself a little to procure it."
Settlements were made on the north, on the east, and on the south of what, in 1850, became Starke County, earlier than in that rather small area of wet land, some sand ridges, and of, what was called some years ago, "comparative inaccessibility."
Edward Smith, from England, is called the first set- tler in what is now Oregon Township in 1835. . John Lindley was the first settler in North Bend Township, and others, called early settlers were John Tibbits, Nathan Koontz, and Samuel Koontz. Starke County was not organized until 1850, so but little of its his- tory belongs to the pioneer or early settler times.
In the other three counties, La Porte, Porter, and Lake, many more names have been found.
The first family credited as settling in La Porte County bore the name of Benedict. Mrs. Miriam
43
EARLY SETTLERS.
Benedict, widow of Stephen S. Benedict, with six sons and one daughter, and Henly Clyburn, husband of the daughter, on March 15, 1829, made a settlement not far northwest from the present town of Westville. July 16, 1829, was born in this pioneer home among the Indians Elizabeth Miriam Clyburn, the first white child born in what became La Porte County.
In April of this same year, near this locality, a few miles south of the Ten Mile Purchase, settled Samuel Johnson, William Eahart, and Jacob Inglewright; also Charles and James Whittaker, and W. H. Shirley. About seven miles distant from the Benedict and Cly- burn locality, in the same year, settled Adam Keith and family and Louis Shirley with his mother; and here, in October, 1829, was born the first white boy in La Porte County, according to the traditions, Keith Shirley.
Settlers in 1830-
John S. Garroutte.
Richard Harris.
Andrew Shaw.
Philip Fail.
John Sissany.
Aaron Stanton.
William Garrison.
Benajah Stanton.
William Adams.
William Clark.
Joseph Osborne.
Andrew Smith.
Daniel Jessup.
John Wills and sons.
Nathan Haines.
Charles Wills.
Richard Harris.
Daniel Wills.
George Thomas.
John E. Wills.
William Stule.
October 30th of this year was born Benajah S. Fail, son of Philip Fail, called by some the first white boy born in La Porte County.
Settlers in 1831-
Rolling Prairie settlement commenced May 25tlı by David Stoner, Arthur Irving, Jesse West, E. Pro-
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NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
volt, and - Willets. Other families came later in the year, among them the Harvey, Salisbury, and Whitehead families, also those of Daniel Murray, James Hiley, Jacob Miller, John Garrett, Emery Brown, C. W. Brown, James Drummond, Benjamin De Witt, Dr. B. C. Bowell, J. Austin, Ludlow Bell, and Myron Ives .* This soon became a noted settle- ment.
Other settlers in different neighborhoods: James Highley, James Webster, Judah Learning, Abram Cormack, Daniel Griffin; Horace Markham, Lane Markham, on Mill Creek; Thomas Stillwell, giving name to Stillwell Prairie; Alden Tucker; Charles W. Cathcart, giving name to a beautiful grove; also the Ball, Blake, Landon, Wheeler, Bond, Fravel, Staneon, and Garwood families, and Joseph Pagin and Wilson Malone. Most of these earliest families as was nat- ural, made their settlements on that strip of land, ten miles in width, which had already been purchased from the Indians, although some settled south of that line on unpurchased Indian lands.
Settlers of 1832-
Isham Campbell.
Elijalı Brown.
Andrew Richardson.
A. M. Jessup.
Edmund Richardson.
Silas Hale.
John Dunn.
Oliver Closson.
Josiah Bryant.
John Brown.
Jeremiah Sherwood.
Charles Vail.
Jonathan Sherwood.
W. A. Place.
George Campbell.
A. Blackburn.
John Broadhead.
Bird McLane.
Peter White.
John McLane.
*For these names and many others I am indebted to the "History of La Porte County." T. H. B.
45
EARLY SETTLERS.
S. Aldrich.
Charles Ives.
Erastus Quivey. Joseph Wheaton.
John Hazleton. Settlers of 1833-
John Talbott. Brainard Goff.
John Beaty.
N. Stul.
S. James.
W. Niles.
G. W. Barnes.
John Osborn.
Shubel Smith.
L. Maulsby.
W. Goit.
L. Reynolds.
R. Miller.
T. Robinson.
H. Cathcart.
R. Prother.
Elmore Pattee.
R. Williams.
Joseph Orr.
Peter Burch.
F. Reynolds.
Ira Burch.
Jesse Willett.
M. O'Hara.
Jesse West.
Samuel O'Hara.
Nimrod West.
Edward O'Hara.
J. Gallion.
J. Perkins.
J. Clark.
Isaac Johnson.
John Wilson.
W. Lavin.
Asa Owen.
S. Lavin.
A. Harvey.
John Winchell.
B. Butterworth.
John Vail.
H. Griffith.
Henry Vail.
J. Griffith.
J. Travis.
G. Rose.
Curtis Travis.
John Luther.
Other names of early settlers in La Porte County will be found among the records of their Old Settlers' Association.
Something singular is connected with the name
Jacob R. Hall.
W. Burch.
Joseph Starrett.
W. O'Hara.
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NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
Lykins. After detailing the supposed facts of the first settlement of Hudson Township, and naming as the first or one of the first settlers, Joseph W. Lykins, a Welshman, "connected with the Carey Mission,'" who settled there in 1829, General Packard mentions as one of the settlers in Wills Township in 1830 Joseph Lykins, and at length says: "During this year (1834) Joseph Lykins put up the first frame house that was erected in Wills." That this man was a Welshman he does not say.
If all the statements are correct there must have been near the northeast corner of La Porte County three men by the name of Lykins-Johnston Lykins, born in Ohio; Joseph W. Lykins, from Wales, and Joseph Lykins, presumably an American.
The statements in regard to the first rest on docu- mentary evidence in missionary publications that can- not be questioned. The statements in regard to Jo- seph and Joseph W. rest upon the memories of the early settlers from whom General Packard obtained information.
It is not probable any one is living now who knows anything of that frame house built in 1834.
In what became Porter County, with the excep- tion of the French trader, Joseph Bailly, who will be elsewhere mentioned, who, in the employ of John Jacob Astor, is said to have made a home on the Calumet River with his Indian wife in 1822, settle- ments seem not to have commenced until the stage line from Detroit to Fort Dearborn or Chicago was opened in 1833. In that year three brothers-Vir- ginians, Jesse, William, and Isaac Morgan-made set- tlements and gave name to one of the small, rich prairies of the county. In April of the same year
47
EARLY SETTLERS.
came from Ohio Henry S. Adams with his mother, his wife, and three daughters; and in June George Cline, Adam S. Campbell from New York, and Rea- son Bell from Ohio. Also Jacob Fleming, Ruel Starr, and Seth Hull.
The following are found as the names of early set- tlers in the northwestern part of the county. Some of these names may be found repeated in the following lists :
For the year 1834, Jacob Wolf and three sons --- John, Jacob E., and Josephus; Barrett Door; Reu- ben Hurlburt and sons-William, Henry, Jacob, David, and Griffith ; R. and W. Parrott ; and, a year or so later, S. P. Robbins, B. and Allen Jones, and the following whose given names have not been found: Blake, Peak, Sumner, Ritter, Harrison, Curtis, Smith, Arnold, McCool, and T. J. Field. The names Twenty- Mile Prairie and Twenty-Mile Grove, were given to the localities in that part of the county. Not that the prairie or the strip of woodland, in which grove for a time black squirrels abounded, extended for twenty miles, but they were twenty miles distant from some- where. In that locality these family names remained for many years and some still remain.
The following lists of names are arranged accord- ing to the years of settlement, but perfect accuracy cannot be claimed for them all, as the authorities were evidently not perfectly accurate. But care has been taken in making corrections and perfecting as nearly as was practicable the entire list.
Settlers in 1834- Thomas A. E. Campbell. Levi Jones.
Benjamin McCarty. Selah Wallace.
Theodore Jones.
C. A. Ballard.
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NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
William Thomas.
John Hageman.
William Coleman.
Benjamin Spencer. Miller Parker.
Pressley Warwick.
John Bartholomew.
Stephen Bartholomew.
J. Sherwood. Jacob Shultz.
J. P. Ballard. A. K. Paine.
John Shultz.
Owen Crumpacker.
Jesse Johnston.
W. Downing.
Thomas Gossett.
Jerry Todhunter.
William Gossett.
John J. Foster.
Theophilus Crumpacker. Abbott.
Jerry Bartholomew.
McCoy.
Jacob Beck.
In this year was born January IIth the first white child in the county, Reason Bell, and the second on February IIth, Hannah Morgan.
Settlers in 1835-
Putnam Robbins. - Baum.
David Hughart. George Z. Salyer.
E. P. Cole.
David Oaks.
Hazard Sheffield.
Alanson Finney.
Allen B. James. Henry Stoner.
G. W. Patton. Baum.
Abraham Stoner.
Jesse Johnson, the first in Boone Township.
N. S. Fairchild. Thomas Clark.
Archie De Munn. Peter Ritter.
Charles Allen.
W. Calhoun.
Josiah Allen.
John Jones.
Lewis Cooner.
David Bryant.
Thomas Adams.
Settlers in 1836-
Simeon Bryant.
Joseph Bartholomew. William Frame.
Thomas Dinwiddie.
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EARLY SETTLERS.
Orris Jewett.
Thomas Johnson.
Solomon Dilley.
William Jolinson.
James Dilley.
Jesse Johnson.
Absalom Morris.
Jennings Johnson.
Isaac Cornell.
Joseph Laird.
John Moore.
George Eisley.
William Bissell.
John Prim.
John W. Dinwiddie.
Frederick Wineinger.
A. D. McCord.
Hugh Dinwiddie.
Settlers from 1836 to 1838-
John Oliver.
James Dye.
Barkley Oliver.
Dr. Griffin.
Daniel Kisler.
Jolın Dillinghanı.
T. C. Sweeney.
Abram Snodgrass.
David Dinwiddie. Asa Zone.
Amos Andrews.
Ira Biggs.
T. W. Palmer. F. Wolf.
James Hildreth.
John White.
Casper Brooks. Smith.
John Safford.
S. Olinger.
Early settlers, date not found-
Samuel Van Dalsen.
John Berry.
Abraham Van Dalsen.
Elisha Adkins.
Lyman Adkins.
Enoch Billings.
R. Blachley.
Eli Cain.
Charles De Wolf.
John E. Harris.
Morris Wisham.
Ezra Wilcox.
T. Wilkins. W. Billings.
Eason Wilcox.
H. Blanchard.
There died in Hebron, March 5, 1900, an aged woman, 88 years of age, known as Grandma Folsom, whose husband, a pensioner of the War of 1812, died some years ago. The year of their settlement is not
50
NORTHWESTERN INDIANA.
known, but she was called about the last of the early settlers in a neighborhood east of Hebron called Yan- kee Town.
The names of early settlers of Lake County are taken from the history of that County by T. H. Ball, known as "Lake County, 1872," to distinguish it from "Lake County, 1884."
According to the records of Solon Robinson there was a settler by the name of Ross in the summer of 1834, on section 6, township 35, range 7, and in 1884 James Hill, of Creston, a man of sterling weight of character, stated at the semi-centennial celebration of Lake County, that in February of 1834 he was looking over what became Lake County, and here saw William Ross, whom he had known in Decatur County, In- diana, as a settler here then with his family. So that there is placed here as the name of the first farmer settler of Lake County, not counting those two or three stage-tavern keepers on the beach of Lake Mich- igan, and as the date of settlement, 1833, William Ross.
For the summer of 1834 there are the names of "William Crooks and Samuel Miller in company, Tim- ber and Mill Seat." Also in the same summer, a man by the name of Winchell commenced a mill near the mouth of Turkey Creek, which he did not complete. William B. Crooks, mentioned above, was from Mont- gomery County, was located on the same section with William Ross, and became one of the first asso- ciate judges in Lake County, elected in 1837. The Claim Register is now the authority.
Settlers in 1834-
In October-Thomas Childers.
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EARLY SETTLERS.
In November-Solon Robinson, Lumm A. Fowler and Robert Wilkinson, on Deep River.
In December-Jesse Pierce and David Pierce, on Deep River and Turkey Creek, says the Claim Register.
Settlers in 1835-
January-Lyman Wells and John Driscoll.
February-J. W. Holton, W. A. W. Holton, Will- iam Clark and family, from Jennings County.
March-Richard Fancher and Robert Wilkinson, the latter on West Creek from Attica "Spring," Elias Bryant, E. W. Bryant, Nancy Agnew, widow, and J. Wiggins.
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